Ecopro Materials posts wider third-quarter operating loss as precursor sales fall

Ecopro Materials said Thursday its third-quarter operating loss widened to 29 billion won ($21.6 million) from 25.1 billion won a year earlier, as a customer product transition cut precursor sales and falling exchange rates and metal prices drove up inventory valuation losses.

The battery materials maker's revenue reached 181 billion won ($135 million), up 186.8 percent from 63.2 billion won a year earlier, helped by higher sales of mixed hydroxide precipitate as utilization recovered at its GEN refinery in Indonesia. Revenue was up 1.3 percent from the previous quarter, as MHP sales growth offset a decline in battery materials sales.

Net loss for the quarter totaled 90.9 billion won ($67.8 million). Ecopro Materials produces high-nickel precursors used in electric-vehicle battery cathodes and also refines raw materials such as nickel and cobalt, a business it brought in-house to secure cost competitiveness for precursors.

The company said it expects fourth-quarter shipments of precursor products to new North American customers, and that it is securing customers for black mass tolling in the United States through affiliate Ecopro CLS. It also expects MHP sales to rise as GEN's utilization normalizes.

Total assets stood at 2.65 trillion won ($1.97 billion) at the end of September, with the debt-to-equity ratio at 96 percent, up from 44 percent a year earlier as GEN's consolidation as a subsidiary increased both assets and liabilities.